Welcome to the second installment of my contribution to the Austin Food Blogger Alliance City Guide. To view my first post on Gluten-Free Breakfast and Brunch Spots near downtown Austin, click here. Make sure and check out the other Guide posts (will be live March 2) – it’s a great way to see what your favorite bloggers recommend around Austin.

For my readers that are not from Austin, thank you for your patience. We will resume regular posting after the guide is completed (2 more posts to go!)

NOTE: Our app’s website lists helpful tips for the restaurants I mentioned, but if you would like specific recommendations, please do not hesitate to contact us. I was trying to save some space on this blog post and include more options!

For those looking to find other gluten-free restaurant options near them – we now have a mobile app for free download. Seriously! Use our app, called Locate Special Diet to help you navigate the gluten-free scene while you are visiting Austin! (available on iPhone, Android, and our website). Built for the gluten-free people, by local gluten-free people. What more could you ask for?

It’s that time of the year, folks! The annual city guides are upon us … Incoordination with the Austin Food Blogger Alliance, many of us will be sharing our picks for various genres of food around town. This year I will be writing about gluten-free, vegetarian and paleo-friendly options in Austin so stay tuned for those posts in the next two weeks. For my readers who do not live in Austin, regular posting will resume after the guide is completed!

For those looking to find other gluten-free restaurant options near them – we now have a mobile app for free download. Seriously! Use our app, called Locate Special Diet to help you navigate the gluten-free scene while you are visiting Austin! (available on iPhone, Android, and our website). Built for the gluten-free people, by local gluten-free people. What more could you ask for?

It’s finally here. After a year and a half of work and research, the Locate Special Diet website is live. Oh… it feels so good to type those words. Let me tell you a little bit about my baby…

Locate Special Diet helps people find local businesses that cater to a gluten-free, vegetarian, or organic lifestyle.

The database currently includes approximately 30,000 businesses in over 27 U.S. cities. Users can browse local restaurants and grocery stores by location, dietary preference and type of food. There is also a section to filter places that offer gluten-free, vegetarian or organic drinks. Austin is currently the only city with the largest drinks database, and it includes places to get smoothies, juices or even gluten-free beer.

Don’t see your favorite local business in the database? Users can submit businesses to Locate Special Diet and after they are approved by our team, we will add them in. This includes restaurants, grocery stores and drinks for any city. Our team is also furiously working to extend the current database to reach others looking to find places that cater to their special diet lifestyle.

I thought I would share some of my Favorite Things About Locate Special Diet.

Lembas Green Eggs and Ham. No green food coloring here. Their eggs are pureed in a blender with fresh kale before scrambling.

Recently, I had the pleasure of joining Emma Janzen of Liquid Austin (Austin 360) for an evening of cocktails and delicious gluten-free food at Lembas Bakery and Breakfast. Lembas is the first completely gluten-free food trailer in Austin, which recently opened, and they are serving a wide variety of [Read more...]

It’s been a while since we have written a gluten-free news segment. We’ve been working hard on our projects (and thesis). So much so that we have gotten sidetracked! If you know of any local or national gluten-free news happening now, leave it in the comment section and share with us!

There are a wide variety of steak houses where you can order a modified gluten-free friendly dish, but Fleming’s is one of those steak houses that takes it to the next level and offers a large gluten-free menu. I had the chance to dine at one of the Austin Fleming’s locations recently and was pleasantly surprised at how large the gluten-free menu is, how knowledgeable the wait staff and chef were about the gluten-free lifestyle, and how eager they were to learn more about the lifestyle. [Read more...]

Welcome to another segment of Austin gluten-free news. We have not done one of these in a while; mainly because we made a large list of restaurants for SXSW and the gluten-free scene has been relatively quiet compared to the beginning of the year. We still have some great news to share with you all. So let’s get started…

Eddie V’s is rolling out a gluten-free menu on May 1st. Just in time for mother’s day! The arboretum location will be open for brunch. Both locations will be open for dinner on Mother’s Day.

AMC Theatres has introduced a new “healthy snack pack” at all their theatres. The snack pack includes two gluten-free food options. [Read more...]

We had a great time on our vacation! It was nice to take a break from the heat and enjoy the fresh air of the mountains. I thought I would share some pictures from our trip. We took over 200 pictures, but here are some of my favorite food pictures (and others). They will make you hungry!

I made this quinoa side dish one night- filled with mushrooms, artichoke hearts and cranberries

I’m currently in Jackson Hole, Wyoming- One of my favorite vacation spots. Jackson Hole is such a great town. It has a small town feel, but with all the amenities you need for a city. It is full of great restaurants, shops, summer activities and more. Not to mention, it is an awesome gluten-free friendly vacation spot. Most restaurants here are willing to accommodate, a few have gluten-free menus, and they have a local grocer full of gluten-free products- The Jackson Whole Grocer. [Read more...]

The Grove, a locally owned wine bar and kitchen, is located in the heart of Westlake. Their mission: to provide a casual, inviting atmosphere where families and friends may come together for a pleasant tasting meal and a wonderful glass of wine. They have succeeded at both and The Grove continues to impress me every time I visit. The best thing about the restaurant- their ginormous oak tree out back with the intertwining Christmas lights that give a unique, romantic atmosphere.

The menu does not list gluten-free items but they do offer a gluten-free rice pasta as well as gluten-free pizza crusts (Gluten-Free Kneads). Normally when I visit The Grove, I am in a pizza mood. Their pizzas are great and hit the spot every time. My favorite is the Top Shelf pizza- a blend of marinara, garlic, mozzarella, fresh tomatoes and basil. [Read more...]